John Spano or Eugene Melnyk

I know folks like to blame everything on Melynk for demise of the Sens. A few years ago they were in the Conference Finals...no real complaints about their on ice product. Then they made the Duchene trade to improve the team...well they didn't quite work, but it wasn't because of cheapness.
Three upcoming UFAs Karlsson, Duchene, Stone weren't helping the Sens in the standings, and they wanted the options of being UFAs. Can't blame Melnyk for trading three outgoing UFAs on a unsuccessful team and the Sens certainly did OK in those trades.
Might be the Sharks were regret signing Karlsson for so much, and in time even Vegas might have regrets with long term Stone.
IMO the Sens did the right thing this year by not overpaying for UFAs. Sens will have the option of signing their own RFAs with cap money. Plus the Sens have lots of picks/prosepects from those three trades. Now if Melynk continue to be cheap, yea there is point of blaming cheap Melynk for the Sens continuing low standings. But right now, he looks like he doing a proper rebuild.

Wanna blame Melynk for being cheap fine. I would suggest more paying fans fill or near fill the arena, or are the fans being cheap by not buying tickets. Yea it's the chicken and the egg.

I hear this sentiment a lot. The sens were sucking, so why not trade their assets on expiring deals for younger players, prospects, and picks. In theory this is not a bad idea, unless you are the current Ottawa Senators. Melnyk has shown that he is not willing to spend money, and actively tries to shed it in pointless deals. He even said we will spend "close to the cap" in the upcoming era of unprecedented success, not to the cap, which is what a team aspiring for unprecedented success should do. And what happens when in all likelihood, the Senators are not perennial cup contenders? The excuse gets recycled, and they slide to the bottom of the barrel again. An effective rebuild should not involve shipping off your mid 20's superstars for picks because you had a bad season and they are due for a contract. It's not easy to win a cup, so most teams will probably go through a couple re builds before even getting a chance. Despite Ottawa's nice stockpile of assets, the way this rebuild started has left a sour taste in many sens fans' mouths due to the work of Melnyk and his trusty puppet.

I hear this sentiment a lot. The sens were sucking, so why not trade their assets on expiring deals for younger players, prospects, and picks. In theory this is not a bad idea, unless you are the current Ottawa Senators. Melnyk has shown that he is not willing to spend money, and actively tries to shed it in pointless deals. He even said we will spend "close to the cap" in the upcoming era of u. An effective rebuild should not involve shipping off your mid 20's superstars for picks because you had a bad season and they are due for a contract.

In theory the only teams with cap issues should be true Cup contenders. Most wannabee teams that spend to the cap have overspend and his no room for improvement.
What's so bad trading mid or late 20 superstars if they aren't going to resign with Sens? True contenders keep their UFAs till the end of their contracts as they are in win now mode. In the past couple years even with Karlsson, Stone and Duchene the Sens weren't contenders, and those players were leaving anyway.
Gee I'm off the opinion the Sens are going in the right direction. Melynk's true test as an owner is when he has to pay the going rate for stars/potentai stars such as his own RFAs and maybe a a sprinkling of UFAs. If you cheaps out then, yep then the fans should really be pissed. Try being a Leaf fan in the since about 1993, the team spend to the cap and constantly even before the cap era spend in the top eight in salaries. Spending to the cap doesn't necessarily mean success or an teams commitment for success.